Draco's Secret Note
by BohemianTypewriter
Summary: Draco passes Astoria a secret note in Transfiguration. What does it say? She reaches out and picks it up curiously.
1. Chapter 1

The classroom was fairly quiet. The only sound was the rasping of the students' quills on their parchments as they made notes from the textbook, the occasional sigh or scuffle. Professor McGonagall was correcting students' essays at her desk, looking up and sweeping her beady eyes over the rows of students, in search of any mischief makers.

Astoria sat at her desk, frowning slightly; looking for something in her textbook she could copy onto the half-written sheet of parchment on her desk. She absentmindedly pulled one of her silky braids to her shoulder, tugging on the end.

She raised her chin to look at the teacher. Professor McGonagall disapproved of hair twisting, fidgeting, and the scratching of your quill against your face, all of which were nervous habits of Astoria's. At a severe glance from that woman Astoria stopped twisting her hair and was straightaway involved in her schoolbook, while she casually drifted her gaze to her watch, alongside two homemade friendship bracelets in bright green and silver, Slytherin colors, her favorite. Ten minutes until the bell rang, and they would be free again.

She slowly moved the ink of her quill down the tattered page of the book, squinting against the sketches of daisies and rose stems that cluttered the page, wondering whose bright idea it was to have such tiny text in a schoolbook.

Her pink-marker-tattooed sandal scuffed against the floor with a squeak. Intrigued, Astoria repeated the action, sliding the tip of her sandal along the wooden panel under her desk. The sound was louder. She was about to try again when the professor looked up with a look that made Astoria think of gorgons, creatures that could turn people into stone with a single glance. She ducked her head.

That was when the note came whizzing past her nose.

Astoria glanced across the classroom at a pale-skinned boy with sleek blond hair and an inkpot full of purple ink was pretending to be working, even though his quill was drifting over the surface of the parchment. For an instant he looked at her, and then his eyes flitted away. She dropped her gaze, embarrassed. The note must have come from Draco Malfoy, she decided. It was splattered with violet as if it was written in a great hurry, the ink soaking through like blood on a crime victim's clothes. She stretched out her hand-purple sparkle polish, fingernails neat ovals-and picked up the carefully folded square of parchment.

"Greengrass!"

Wincing inwardly, Astoria snapped her eyes north to find the Transfiguration professor looking at her sternly.

"Was that a note from Mr. Malfoy?"

Astoria peeked sideways. Malfoy was staring straight ahead and the tips of his ears were tinged with red. She rubbed her nose awkwardly. "Yes, Professor."

McGonagall came forwards, her low heels echoing like gunshots. "If you want to stare at your little friend, this is not the time to do it. Twenty points from Slytherin." This caused no small amount of mutinous scowls from the Slytherin members of the class, who, unfortunately, were in a minority, leaving the Gryffindors sniggering at her and Malfoy. McGonagall held out her hand and tapped the palm for the note. Astoria dropped it in the professor's hand. She unfolded it with a practiced flick of her wrist and read it. A small smile curled her thin lips, and then she systematically shredded it into minuscule pieces and tapped it with her wand, reducing it to ashes and leaving a smell of burning in the air.

And then she turned to Malfoy and said, "Your penmanship is shockingly poor, Mr. Malfoy." Astoria screwed up her nose a little. She knew perfectly well most of the class was whispering and giggling at her and Malfoy. She wished she had read the stupid note.

"Detention, Malfoy, and you too, Greengrass. My office, five o' clock today."

Malfoy accepted the detention without a word, nodding in silence and pretending that nobody else in the class existed.

Astoria's cheeks flamed. "Why me? He's the one who did it."

"For arguing with a professor and disregarding authority," said McGonagall, in a voice that allowed no argument, "Five more points from Slytherin, and if you squabble further, it will be fifty."

Astoria took a deep breath, calming herself, and then tipped her head back to give professor her sweetest smile, exhaling in a slow whistle.

The Transfiguration professor sniffed, walked to the blackboard, took a stick of chalk, and wrote _Astoria _in flawless copperplate handwriting on the board. She turned to face the class and said, "Try not to misspell a girl's name again, Malfoy."

Astoria couldn't believe someone could actually misspell a name in a secret note. After all, her name wasn't that hard to spell.

Right?


	2. Chapter 2

Professor McGonagall looked sternly at the teenagers in front of her. Draco was making every effort _not_ to look at her, but then she was used to that. Astoria was keenly observing the wooden desk, following the pattern with her eyes intently. Professor McGonagal let the silence grow until the two teenagers were uncomfortable, and then she cleared her throat.

"Malfoy, Greengrass, I have arranged with Mr. Filch for you to take over the cleaning of the Great Hall today...every night, after dinner."

As she expected, Astoria burst out, "But we'll miss curfew! Every _day_? For how _long_?" The professor winced at her high and piercing voice.

"The entire Great Hall?" asked Draco. He looked annoyed, but not like Astoria, who was hysterical and had red blotches on her cheeks. She rather resembled a Weasley at that moment, sans the red hair, of course. Astoria gave Draco an incredulous look, her eyebrows curved so high they almost disappeared into her hair. "Don't you dare tell me you actually agree with her."

"I do agree with her," said Draco, and the professor rolled her eyes. How come her students could use reverse psychology better than she could?

"I will not discuss this any further," she said, standing up and drawing herself to her full height. She noticed with dismay that both Draco and Astoria were almost as tall as she was, but didn't let that daunt her. "You will do as you are told, and you will take as long as necessary."

"And how long do you think that will be?" asked Astoria, flattening her lips. At the teacher's glance, she quickly added, "Professor."

"As long as necessary," she repeated. "If I see no progress, I may have to make your sentence more severe."

"Progress?" asked Astoria, while Draco just wondered what could be more severe. "What kind of progress?"

Professor McGonagall hid her smile in the palm of her hand. "Oh, I think you'll grasp what I mean sooner or later."

A moment's silence. Then the door clicked shut behind Astoria as she swept out dramatically with her nose in the air. Draco blinked a little rapidly, turning to watch her walk out in time to see her auburn hair flick out the door frame, almost getting trapped in the door.

"I normally don't care what you do," said Professor McGonagal to Draco, who was still there, "But I wish you luck with this...particular...endeavour."


	3. Chapter 3

Astoria shoved a slash of her fringe out of her eyes as she vigourously scrubbed the floor where some idiot had dropped a bottle of ketchup. At least Astoria hoped it was ketchup. It could have easily been...never mind.

Of course, Draco was doing nothing. He just leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, watching Astoria sweat. She was trying to ignore him but eventually it got too frustrating. She looked up and glared.

"Grab a broom and help me."

"No," said Draco lightly, "I don't do that stuff."

"That's your nanny's job right?" asked Astoria. She could ust imagine this bratty Mommy's boy stutting around with a nanny trying to keep him in check.

"No," said Draco with dignity. "My job isn't cleaning up trash. People like you clean it up. People like me however, create it."

"Of course," said Astoria. She straightened up and pointed her finger at him. "And here is a perfect example of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy's ability to create trash."

Draco scowled fiercely at her. "You are really getting on my bad side now, Astoria."

"Do you think I care if I'm on your bad side or not?"

"I'm still a Hogwarts prefect."

"Oh, God," said Astoria. "You use that line every time you pick on a first year. Now get a broomstick and help me. You can't leave until we're done, and it's going to be slower with just one of us doing the work. Anyway, McGonagall's probably going to check up on us in a few minutes and if she sees that I'm the only one working, you'll probably get detention until you are forty years old."

Draco blinked at this sudden torrent of information, but in the end his only comment was, "I'm not going to be at Hogwarts till I'm forty."

"I wouldn't put it past McGonagall to come over at your house and check to see if you're writing lines."

Draco shrugged, but he went and picked up a broom off the floor. He walked up to Astoria and helped her mop up the dark stain on the floor. Stunned, Astoria watched him helping her.

"I knew you had it in you," she said encouragingly, though she really hadn't expected her reasoning to work on someone as stubborn as he was.

"Had what in me?"

"That last shred of humanity," replied Astoria, resuming sweeping.

"I can take this," said Draco. "You go and do some of the other things." He sounded like he was on a roll.

"Good heavens," said Astoria. "More humanity. Draco, you astound me."

"I have that effect on people. Now hurry up so I can go back to bed."

"I didn't know you took naps in the evening-or were you just crying under the sheets?"

"Now would be a good time for you to shut up."

...

A few hours later, the two of them walked back to the Slytherin common room. Every muscle in Astoria's body was complaining furiously, Her back ached, her neck ached, she was so tired that the room glittered aroud the edges of her vision. She hoped she wasn't going to pass out, because she didn't particularly expect Malfoy to take her to the hospital wing.

They reached the portrait, said the password and went inside. Astoria paused uncomfortably in the doorway of the girls' dormitories. "Well, goodnight," she said.

Draco hesistated, awkward. Then he held out his hand.

_He wants me to shake his hand? _Astoria gave him an incredulous look, but she shook his hand and walked up the stairs.

Draco stared at her back as she walked away. _What was I thinking? _He wondered. _I shook her bloody hand. Merlin, I'm pathetic._

**Author's Note:**

_Okay. I'll admit it: I'm stuck. I've got some idea, but I really don't know what to do with these two. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, and thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed me, it seriously makes my life worth it. I love getting PMs too (hint) so if you want to discuss anything, I'm all ears._


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